Page 40 of Diamond

I hope she doesn't remember that I have not yet promised not to shed blood the entire time I am accompanying her. She might not understand the repercussions of such a promise, but I do.

"Please, Nasrin, we have to leave this place. We must find somewhere else to rest and recuperate. It has been a long night," I beg, my voice strained.

Surely she has to understand the urgency of our situation. What if the genali are hunting or tracking us?

I can tell she agrees with the last part of what I said when she doesn't argue and lets out a deep sigh instead. "It has," she simply agrees, and I exhale in relief that stirs my braids, glad that she is not fighting me anymore.

I look up at the ridge and note that we will have to climb back over it to resume our journey.

Nasrin is looking up at Roshan, then glances over to me. "We will have to go up there," I tell her, pointing.

She moves her head up and down in agreement.

She starts to speak to the creature beside her in a different language and tone of voice.

I assume she is telling him about our next move, and I fight back the urge to laugh. It is an animal that cannot understand a single word that she is saying, regardless of the language she is speaking, but I find it beguiling that she feels the need to involve him in everything.

Everything she does fascinates me. She's fragile but so strong inside her mind and her will. Unfortunately, that strength of will is holding onto a grudge.

After she has spoken to him, she faces me. "He should go up first and I will go after him."

Now her guard is back up, the switch in tone between when she speaks to the animal and when it's me clear. There is an edge in her voice when she talks to me that just melts when she's cooing at the big animal.

I'm more than a little jealous, but I force my mind to focus.

"He will not agree to go up if you do not go first," I protest and she opens her mouth to say something but decides against it.

As I hold my arms out, offering to help her up, I can see her struggling with the decision.

Then she glances in the direction of where I carved up the male and shudders, then uses my hand to steady herself as I pull her up. She barely weighs anything.

I make a mental note to make sure she eats more, all while trying not to stare at the tantalizing curves of her body.

She hobbles toward the ridge. Roshan follows right behind her with no persuasion.

I take a moment to appreciate the movement of her thighs and rear, wondering if all of her would jiggle like that if she were properly fed. I shake my head with a sharp click of my tongue, annoyed when I have to adjust myself so I can move to catch up.

I make myself look at her annoying companion, catching a glimpse of the gash I caused on it. The reminder of her anger is more than enough to crush my errant arousal.

"Where are we headed?" she asks when she hears me coming behind her.

"I'd like to move back into the heavytreesright away, but for tonight we should go toward known shelter."

"You mean go back into theforest?"

"Is that what it is called?"

I roll the foreign word around on my tongue as she makes a snorting sound. "Life has become very strange, Kuret. I just realized you spoke anEnglishword, and I understood it. A word I didn't know, somehow translated by an alientechnology, after spoken by an alien who doesn't even know what aforestis."

I'm not really sure I understood what she means, but I'm relieved to hear the humor in her clicks and the undertones of her whistles.

We are on the edge of theforest. Thetreesare sparser here with more grassland and outcroppings of rock like the little cliff face she fell down.

Maybe now that her mood is better, she will take part in the larger mission and I decide to share it with her.

"The plan is to take you to Ree. She is currently putting together a cloister of all the other women that she can find a way to rescue."

She whips her head sharply and I miss the way her white hair would flow around her face when she had it out.

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